There'll always be what if
by Dramione27
Summary: She chose her path, she made the decision, but there'll always be that...what if? DH Compliant. Oneshot.


Their eyes met across the platform and a lifetime of memories were shared, flashes of reminiscent strands, situations and, perhaps most importantly, understanding.

* * *

><p>"<em>Ron you are the most inconsiderate jerk I have ever met."<em>

"_What-"_

"_You know it's true,"_

"_But him? Anyone else Hermione…what about Harry?" she looked gobsmacked, Harry Potter stood behind Ron appalled, "Better Harry than…him," he said the last word with such distaste, like venom._

"_Ronald, do you even realise what you're saying?"_

"_Yes, I would rather lose you to someone like Harry, someone who's better, than to Malfoy. He's a prat, and I can't believe your standards have dropped so low that you would actually leave me for him."_

_She stood in shock for a moment, her eyes blaring, her fists clenching, her face a bright red, her hair sticking out like it was charged with its own electricity, it was then that Ron knew he was in trouble. "Well if there's any reason my standards have dropped Ronald, it's because I've spent the last few years of my life cleaning up after you." She brushed past him roughly and grabbed her cloak and a small suitcase, "To think I could have been out there curing diseases or making the wizarding world a better place but I was playing the role of a good girlfriend, a good wife. I haven't used my brain in so long I had actually forgotten how it felt until he came along. He challenged me and after four years of cleaning up after your crap I needed that. I'm so glad that I had enough brain power left to even make this decision." She walked up close to him now, "To think I wasted four years of my life on you Ronald, thinking you loved me, thinking this schoolboy thing was just a phase; that you would grow out of it. Boy, was I wrong." She turned and grasped the handle to the door, "I'm leaving this house Ronald for the last time. The next time you see me I will be the former Mrs Hermione Weasley." And then the door slammed with a resounding crash. Ron was stood still in shock, mouth opening and closing silently, while Hermione made her way down the street looking forward to her new life._

* * *

><p><em>Draco was descending the stairs when the doors to Malfoy manor opened and a confused Hermione Granger walked in with a suitcase. "Well, what brings you to my humble abode?"<em>

"_I did it," she said simply before taking a breath, "And don't think I didn't notice that 'humble' comment, I'll get to that later."_

"_You did it?"_

"_Yes, I'll be sending the papers on Wednesday next, but we are separated."_

"_How do you feel?"_

"_Confused of course, a little disappointed that he didn't fight for me, but mostly relieved." Her suitcase fell to the floor as she brought her hands to her face and the tears fell from her eyes; the months of built stress and tension finally finding one blissful release. _

_He quickly closed the gap between them, gracefully alighting the stairs and placing the book he'd been carrying on the banister, before gathering her up in his arms. "He doesn't know what he's lost," he whispered into her hair before placing a chaste kiss on her forehead, "If I were him I would fight for you with every fibre of my being, I would not rest until you were safe and between my sheets again."_

* * *

><p><em>He held her hair by her neck as she threw up her meagre stomach contents into the porcelain bowl. <em>

"_This is getting ridiculous Hermione; this flu is getting to the point where I'm very tempted to call a Medi-wizard." _

_She held her hand up effectively silencing him before brushing her teeth and washing her face and hands. "I went yesterday."_

_His brow creased in confusion, "You didn't tell me you were going,"_

"_I had suspicions Draco and they were confirmed."_

"_What kind of suspicions?"_

_She pulled him over to the loveseat and sat him down before wringing her hands, "I'm pregnant Draco," there was a silence._

"_Well I can't say this was expected, but I'm in no way disappointed. It had to happen eventually didn't it?"_

_She bristled at his excitement, _

"_What? Is there something more?"_

"_You have to be fully prepared for the possibility that it may be Ron's."_

_He took a deep breath before standing and pacing,_

"_Please don't pace Draco,"_

"_You tried for so long, and nothing happened, you said it was one of the reasons your marriage wasn't working out, so it couldn't be his."_

"_Who are you trying to convince Draco? Me or yourself?" _

_He stopped pacing only to look her over,_

"_Don't get me wrong, I'm praying it's yours, I hope it's yours I wish for it to be yours, but what if it isn't?"_

"_But it is."_

"_My divorce isn't even finalised, how would he take it?"_

"_You're worried about that pin-head?"_

"_I thought I was through with him Draco," tears fell down her cheeks silently, "I wanted so dearly to cut all ties to him and now I could be carrying a piece of him inside me."_

_He stopped pacing again, "What if it looks like you?" he approached her, "You could lie, he would never know,"_

"_But I would. I'm giving you a warning here Draco, if it is Ron's then I will tell him and he will be a part if it's life."_

_There was a long pause after this, "I'm sorry Hermione, I need some time to think." _

_She suddenly stood up, all a rage. "You need some time to think?" she threw her hands up in frustration, "Sure, I'll just stop the babies heart and we can all stop and think, you stupid, stupid man. This is happening to me, right now, I can't even run from this. It's happening, whether I like it or not and we have to decide what we're going to do."_

_He looked from her tearstained face to her stomach, _

"_I don't have the luxury of thought Draco." She ran a frustrated hand through her hair, "I just need you to tell me you'll stand by me whatever happens, even if it isn't true," _

_He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders from behind, "Hermione, I will stand by you whatever happens and whatever you decide to do." One of her hands drifted to his while his other hand subconsciously drifted to her abdomen._

"_I'm just so scared Draco."_

"_Me too." And it was true._

* * *

><p>"<em>He hasn't sent back the papers yet Draco," she had crept into the bed later than usual that night, <em>

"_You told me he'd sent them back last week, you told me you just had to get through the ministry's red tape and then you would be divorced."_

"_I'm sorry I lied," she cuddled closer._

"_No it's alright, I understand, keeping your options open in case the baby's born with red hair and more freckles than Weasel himself."_

"_Draco!"_

"_No Hermione, it's alright, you don't have to explain, I completely understand." He turned over in bed._

_She reached out her arm to grab his shoulder but changed her mind and crawled out of the bed. _

_He couldn't sleep not knowing where she was so he went looking for her and was completely ashamed to find her crying in another room._

* * *

><p><em>He came home to find her sitting in the foyer on her suitcase, her cloak draped over her arm. His eyes instantly shifted to her abdomen and the intensity of the gaze softened, it was then that his eyes happened to find her nervous hands, wringing each other and the gaudy, unattractive wedding band that now, suddenly, graced her left hand again.<em>

"_What's this then?"_

"_I've packed up everything I came here with, everything that's mine,"_

"_The whole place is yours Hermione,"_

"_No Draco, it's yours." And even in that moment he could feel the significance of that one statement, the weight it carried._

"_You're leaving?"_

"_Yes, I'm going back to Ronald, he refuses to sign the papers, he's fighting for me…finally."_

"_You haven't seen fight Hermione."_

"_Please don't fight it Draco, we knew this was short-lived, that it could never last between us, there's just too much history there."_

"_Too much to throw away,"_

"_No,"_

"_I will fight for you Hermione, with every fibre of my being, I promised."_

"_You're off the hook Draco, you don't have to live up to it, I never expected you too,"_

"_Shows how little you truly know about me. Promises don't work like that Hermione, you can't just let me off the hook."_

"_Please don't make this any harder than it already is," but he heard her veiled pleading _please let me go

"_Why should you settle for a mediocre life with a man who loves you almost as much as quidditch when I'm right here and I'm offering you the real thing?"_

"_Please Draco," she pleaded._

"_You're an honest woman Hermione, if you tell me it's his, if you can look me in the eyes and tell me it's his then I'll leave you be."_

_Her eyes met his and she was almost startled by the hurt and the intensity in them, "It's his."_

_He closed his eyes as if the impact had hit him physically, "And if you can look at me and tell me right now that you love him I will let you go,"_

"_I love him Draco." She said but she immediately regretted every word,_

"_Well I hope you're both very happy together." He grasped her hands in his own gently, "Have a fabulous life Hermione and raise our daughter well." She should have know, he could always tell when she was lying._

"_I will."_

"_I love you,"_

"_I know,"_

"_Goodbye."_

"_Goodbye," and he watched as she walked from his life for good._

* * *

><p>"<em>Do you love me Draco?" Astoria asked him one night in the sitting room,<em>

_He decided to answer truthfully, "No,"_

"_I suspected as much," she looked back over at him, her face impassive, "You do love someone though?"_

"_Yes, I do,"_

"_That Hermione girl?"_

"_Yes."_

_There was a pause, "then why are you with me?"_

"_Because she left me," he looked back over at her, "Don't get me wrong Astoria, you are a great pure-blooded wife, better than anything my parents would've chosen,"_

"_I feel the same way about you Draco," he smiled at this, "Plus I suspect you've known about my lover for years,"_

_He nodded,_

"_You can take a lover too if you like Draco, it would be no insult to me,"_

"_There's only one person I want." _

_She closed her book and sat in a chair much closer to his._

"_Then take her back, fight for her,"_

"_She told me not to,"_

"_When a woman says that it just means 'fight harder'"_

_Draco put his face in his hands and groaned, "All this time I didn't know."_

"_It's not too late."_

"_It's far too late._

* * *

><p><em>Ron walked into his daughter's bedroom only to find Hermione sitting with their sleeping child, stroking her hair. "It's late Hermione,"<em>

_She looked up but just smiled, "I just love looking at her, she's so beautiful, her delicate features, her pale skin."_

"_You should take her to see her real father some time,"_

_She looked up startled, "Come again,"_

"_Well Malfoy has a right to see his daughter." He looked at her in amazement, "After all these years you thought I wouldn't know?"_

"_I guess I was very presumptuous," she looked at him curiously, "Why didn't you tell me you knew, back when she was a baby?"_

"_And risk losing you?"_

"_I suppose you're right, if I'd have known you knew I would have left."_

"_I'm not as stupid as people think," he kissed her forehead before leaving for bed._

* * *

><p>Now as Draco patted his son on the head lovingly and Hermione held their daughter's hand through the open window they both thought of the love that was there, dormant for years, that undoubtedly still remained.<p>

"I love you," she mouthed,

"I know," he replied. And that would be the end of the memories they would share with each other, each having a separate life now.


End file.
